Dunedin Stadium / Dunedin Blue Jays / Toronto Blue Jays

Tucked away in the corner of a Tampa/St. Pete suburb, Dunedin Stadium (formerly known as Knology Park) is a facility designed for spring-training needs, not to serve the audience of a Class A Florida State League team. As a result, there’s not a lot of excitement surrounding a Dunedin Blue Jays game: the team is perennially next-to-last in Florida State League attendance, and the team doesn’t exactly overwhelm their potential audience with a flood of promotions.

FAST FACTS

Year Opened: 1990Capacity: 6,106Dimensions: 335L, 380LC, 400C, 363RC, 325RPlaying Surface: GrassPhone: 727/733-9302Website: dunedinbluejays.comLeague: Florida State League (High Class A)Parent: Toronto Blue JaysAddress/Directions: 311 Douglas Av., Dunedin. Take Hwy. 19 north from St. Petersburg, take Sunset Point Road (Route 588) west for two miles, and then head north on Douglas Avenue for a half mile.

Still, this ballpark isn’t a total waste on a warm Florida evening. As stated, it was really built as the spring-training home of the Toronto Blue Jays, so the facilities are in pretty good shape. And the Blue Jays stress player development, so their minor-league teams are pretty good. And let’s just say you won’t be fighting huge crowds for a good seat.

Dunedin Stadium replaced 3,417-seat Grant Field, which was one of the oldest stadiums used in the Grapefruit League, dating back to 1930. The Toronto Blue Jays opened their formal history by training at Grant, but Grant Park didn’t keep up with the many new spring-training facilities that were popping up in Florida in the 1980s.

By 1989 the Blue Jays were working on a plan to replace Grant Field with a new stadium and spring-training facility. As a result, the city of Dunedin invested $2.4 million into a new stadium at the site of the old stadium, and Dunedin Stadium became the new spring-training home of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1990.

Three years ago Dunedin spent $12 million on a new spring-training complex for the Blue Jays, which include new training facilities, offices, new hitting cages, and five full fields at the Cecil P. Englebert Recreational Complex. As a result, the Blue Jays signed a 15-year lease to stay in Dunedin.

QUICK GUIDE: BPD SHORTCUTS

Categories

About Ballpark Digest

August Publications was formed in 2002 with the launch of Ballpark Digest. Since that time the company has grown from a single employee working out of a home to a diversified publishing firm featuring Websites, books and other merchandise. Our motto is simple: We enjoy doing cool things and are overjoyed we can make a living doing so.